MUSIC PREVIEW: Guitarslinger Albert Castiglia plays C-Note in Hull

Saturday

Jun 17, 2017 at 6:30 AM

Castiglia would play with a litany of the music's best bands and performers before finally launching his own band. Earlier this year, Castiglia released “Big Dog” on Ruf Records, his eighth album as a bandleader.

By Jay N. Miller/For The Patriot Ledger

Albert Castiglia is a contemporary blues-rockin’ dynamo, honed by the classic tradition. It’s a potent combination, not easily achieved, and it makes the Florida guitarist’s biography as intriguing as his music. Castiglia and his trio will headline the C-Note in Hull on Saturday night.

Castiglia had been raised in a house full of music, got started early, and was playing regularly in bar bands by the time he graduated college. But his first job after college not only provided him with loads of stories he could turn into modern blues songs, it convinced him a music career was what he really wanted.

“Yes, right out of college I was a social services investigator, a caseworker dealing with things like food stamps, ADC, and disability benefits,” said Castiglia, calling from a Kentucky tour stop this week. “It was an interesting job, and since it was happening right after Hurricane Andrew had hit Florida, there were a lot of people in need. I went into it as a total idealist, and ended up hating the red tape in the system that often prevented you from really helping people. Luckily, after four and half years in that job, playing clubs at night, I was rescued. Junior Wells picked me up for his band.”

But there were unforgettable encounters with real people during that social worker’s job.

“One man came in needing to get food stamps, and introduced himself to me as the King of Hawaii,” Castiglia recalled. “I think he was actually a carny, since Florida would get a lot of them during the winter. But after I straightened his paperwork out and got him some food stamps, I told him I was sorry. He asked me, ‘For what?’ I told him, well, Hawaii became a state fifty years ago. He replied immediately, without missing a beat, ‘That’s right, I know–I’m in exile!”

Castiglia’s joining Junior Wells’ backing band made him a full time musician for the first time, and while he would get an indelible education from the Chicago blues harmonica master during his stint, starting in 1995, Wells would die in 1998. Castiglia still remembers a show Wells did in the original House of Blues in Harvard Square, shortly before his declining health took him off the road.

“Some people may have different memories of this night,” Castiglia noted, “because Junior wasn’t feeling well by that point. But that night we had (Boston organist) Ron Levy come in and jam on the B-3 with us, and (Waltham harmonica ace) Jerry Portnoy sit in with us, and when Junior’s peers showed up, he got up onstage and kicked it all up a notch–one of his best shows.”

Castiglia would play with a litany of the music’s best bands and performers after Wells died, before finally launching his own band. Earlier this year, Castiglia released “Big Dog” on Ruf Records, his eighth album as a bandleader. With his good friend and fellow musician Mike Zito producing, “Big Dog” was recorded at Dockside Studios in Lafayette, Louisiana, a place where Susan Tedeschi and many other notables have recorded. But even there, the specter of Wells was not far away.

“Junior had recorded two albums at Dockside,” Castiglia explained. “Around ‘97, when I was with him, he recorded what was his last album there, featuring a bunch of guest guitarists, mainly slide players. He had people like Derek Trucks – then a teenager, Tab Benoit, Sonny Landreth, and Corey Harris. Junior always told me how much he loved that place, right by the Vermillion River, which runs from Lake Charles to Lafayette. It’s actually a renovated barn, right by the swampland there, but Junior told me it had been a great experience. And, his album went on to earn five Blues Music Award nominations, and a Grammy nomination.”

“Ruf Records wanted me to make my record in Muscle Shoals,” Castiglia noted. “Since Mike Zito had been instrumental in me getting signed to Ruf, and is one of my best friends, I wanted him to help me produce it. Mike had gotten great guitar sound on Samantha Fish’s latest albums, and I wanted him to do that for me. But Mike eventually called and said getting to Muscle Shoals would be a logistical nightmare for him. He said he knew a studio close by his home, where he could get home easily to see his wife and kids every night, and it turned out to be Dockside. It was just such a serendipitous happening, but I loved the place, and felt Junior’s presence there.”

Castiglia’s new record has garnered critical raves, and he’s eager to expand his audience into new areas. New England might qualify, since he last played the C-Note about eight years ago, and has not played this far north very often. On this swing, he’s also playing the Iron Horse in Northampton on Friday night before the C-Note gig. But his music career is going well, and he has no second thoughts about leaving that old social work job.

“I wouldn’t trade what I’m doing now for anything,” Castiglia said. “I feel I make more people happy now than I was in my days as a caseworker. I’m also very fortunate to have a wife who understands the demands of this kind of career, and a great band. We’ve got a really fat sound for a three-piece, and I love getting out there with my power trio.” ALBERT CASTIGLIA 8 p.m. Saturday at the C-Note, 159 Nantasket Ave., Hull. $12. www.cnotehull.com